Pilot
Recap The episode (and series) begins with a future Ted explaining to his children the story of how he met their mother. The story begins in 2005, with Marshall proposing to Lily, prompting Ted to begin a search to find his own soul-mate. At MacLaren's, alongside Barney, Ted meets budding news anchor Robin, with whom he is instantly smitten. After hitting it off, and after a successful date which concludes with Robin being called away for a news story, Ted decides to take the plunge and make his move. He symbolically steals the Blue French Horn from the restaurant of their first date, and heads to Robin's apartment with the gang ("Suited up", much to Barney's delight). Things are going great until he inexplicably tells Robin that he loves her, prematurely destroying his chances with her. After a lingering goodbye, and with the afterthought that he may or may not have missed "the signal" (missing out for the second time on his first kiss with her), we then return to the future Ted telling his children that that's how he met their... Aunt Robin. Continuity * Barney begins insisting that he is Ted's best friend in this episode. * Barney breaks up words by saying "wait for it" in between syllables for the first time. * Barney first mentions his blog. * Barney's love of Laser tag is introduced. * Marshall is the first character in the show referred to as "Uncle". * Barney plays his "Have you met Ted?" game for the first time, to introduce Ted to Yasmeen, Carl's Lebanese girlfriend, and Robin. * Ted's architecture career, Lily's job as a kindergarten teacher, Marshall studying law, and Robin's news show are all introduced. * Marshall and Lily getting together in their freshman year of college is first mentioned. Future References (Contains Spoilers) * Ted saying "I love you" to Robin on the first date is referenced repeatedly in future episodes, including , , and . * Marshall does the robot, a dance move that he uses on several other occasions, including in and . * Barney adapts his "Have you met Ted?" game for Robin in , for Marshall in , and attempts to for Randy in . It also fails when he tries to use it on himself ("Have you met me?"), and he and his brother are seen using it on each other simultaneously, in . ** Robin also plays it with Ted in Purple Giraffe. *Robin's recently dumped friend reappears in , where her only line ("What's taking so long?") is the same as it is here. * Barney's catchphrase Suit Up! is introduced. The origin of the phrase is explained in Game Night. *Marshall says that Ted has always described his perfect woman as liking dogs, and in , Ted mentions that he's only attracted to "dog people", and is concerned about his relationship with Victoria when he discovers that she likes cats. * Ted stealing the Blue French Horn is referred to throughout the series, as seen in , , and . * Lily and Marshall having sex on the kitchen floor again after the second time they get engaged in , and while testing their new carpet samples in . *Marshall popping the champagne cork into Lily's eye is referenced again in Atlantic City and . * Ted implies having been in the top bunk when Lily and Marshall had sex for the first time, as confirmed in First Time In New York. * In , Robin is only seen joining in on the gang's annual tradition of watching the Super Bowl together in 2006, as they only met her here, in the fall of 2005, after the Super Bowl. *Ted's first meeting with Barney is expanded upon in , where they do indeed meet at the urinal. *The story of how Robin met Barney and Ted, particularly Barney saying "Oh yeah, you just know she likes it dirty", is referenced again in How I Met Everyone Else, , and . *Marshall injures someone by popping a champagne cork in their eye again in , where he does so to Wendy the Waitress with the "comically-large champagne bottle". *In , one of the occasions Future Ted mentions Doug having been around for is Barney introducing Ted to Yasmeen by playing "Have you met Ted?". *Ted has a beard and moustache in the flashback to him meeting Barney for the first time. He is shown with a goatee in the flashback to 2002 in , and with similar facial hair in the flashback to Barney's days as Insane Duane's best friend in . * Barney says "This just in..." as a double entendre for sex. Lily imagines Robin doing the same thing when convincing Marshall not to tell the gang about their decision to start a family in . *In , Marshall explains to the gang that he only likes to share good news with his father, including him getting engaged to Lily. *A similar opening sequence appears in Symphony of Illumination, when Robin is talking to her imaginary children. *Ted tells Yasmeen he wants a band and not a DJ for his future wedding. In , however, he attempts to convince Robin to get a DJ instead of a band for her wedding, apparently because he is having trouble with the idea of Robin marrying Barney, and is equating the two decisions. *Robin says she hates olives here, but changes her mind about them by , as a flashback shows her eating some and explaining as much, making Ted hopeful that she might also change her mind about being with him. This implies Ted no longer believes in the "Olive Theory" he explains to Robin here; indeed, it is proven false here itself when it is revealed that Marshall and Lily both like olives. *As revealed in , the Mother turns 21 the day Lily and Marshall get engaged and Barney and Ted meet Robin; she celebrates it at another bar called MacLaren's, and her friend Kelly gets the two confused, running out of the gang's pub just as Barney gets ready to play "Have you met Ted?" *Future Ted mentions that he found out years later that he could have kissed Robin after their first date. He eventually does in . Gallery HowImetyourmother kids.jpg|Ted's kids in the future. TheOliveTheory.png Pilot.jpg BFH.jpg vlcsnap-2013-09-05-19h03m29s91.png|Lily after finger painting day at school vlcsnap-2013-09-05-19h04m27s228.png|Marshall and Lily celebrate their engagement vlcsnap-2013-09-05-19h05m14s210.png|The result of an accident with the champagne vlcsnap-2013-09-05-19h06m14s44.png|Ted sees Robin for the first time vlcsnap-2013-09-05-19h07m12s104.png|Ted and Robin after their first date Skärmavbild 2013-12-21 kl. 10.34.08.png|Robin gives Ted the 'signal' when they shake hands Memorable Quotes Lily: Wow, you're cooking? Marshall: Yes, I am. Lily: Awww. Are you sure that's a good idea after last time? You looked really creepy without eyebrows. ---- Marshall: Oh, hey, look what I got? (brings out bottle of champagne and hands it to Lily)' ' Lily: Aww, honey. Champagne. (hands bottle back to Marshall) Marshall: Yeah. (hands bottle back to Lily) Lily: No, you are too old to be scared to open a bottle of champagne. ---- Robin: I'm going to Orlando for a week on Friday. Some guy is attempting to make the world's biggest pancake. Guess who's covering it? Ted: That's gonna' take a week? Robin: Yeah, he's gonna eat it too. It's another record. ---- "Why are we still sitting here? Let's go, we can still make last call. What do you say, Lil? Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum? 'Cause you're a pirate?" :—'Barney' can't resist joking about Lily's eye-patch. ---- Robin: Hold on, wait a minute. Promised you these. Ted: Olives, thanks. I love you. What is wrong with me? ---- Ted: So, you're a reporter? Robin: Well, kind of a reporter. I do those dumb little fluff pieces at the end of the news, like... Monkey can play a ukulele. I'm hoping for some bigger stories. Ted: Bigger... Like, a gorilla with an upright bass? Sorry, you're very pretty. ---- Ted: She didn't even give me the signal! Barney: What, is she gonna... is she gonna bat her eyes at you in morse code? (bats eyes) Ted... kiss me. No! You just kiss her! Ted: Not if you don't get the signal! (Barney spontaneously kisses Marshall) Barney: Did Marshall give me the signal? Marshall: No! (to Lily) I didn't, I swear! ---- Barney: So, Ranjit, you must have done it with a Lebanese girl... Lily: Ok, that's my Barney limit. ---- Barney: ...Just once, when I say "suit up", I'd wish you'd put on a suit! Ted: I did, that one time. Barney: It was a blazer! ---- (giving a toast) Marshall: To my fiance! Lily: To the future! Ranjit: To one hell of a night! ---- Future Ted: (voice over about seeing Robin for the first time) It was like something from an old movie. Where the sailor sees the girl across the crowded dance floor and turns to his buddy, and says, "See that girl? I'm gonna marry her someday." Ted: Hey, Barney. See that girl? Barney: Oh, yeah, you just know she likes it dirty. ---- Ted: I'm so happy for Marshall, I really am. I just can't imagine settling down right now. Yasmin: So, do you think you'll ever get married? Ted: Well, maybe eventually... some fall day, possibly in Central Park... simple ceremony, we'll write our own vows... band, no DJ, people will dance, I'm not gonna worry about it! ---- Marshall: (rehearsing with Ted) Will you marry me? Ted: Yes, perfect! And then you're engaged, you pop the champagne, you do your toast, you have sex on the kitchen floor! Don't have sex on our kitchen floor. ---- Barney: (after Robin throws a drink in Ted's face) De -wait for it- Nied! Denied! ---- Barney: There's no such thing as the signal! But yeah, that was the signal. ---- Future Ted: That, kids, is the true story of how I met your Aunt Robin. Son: Aunt Robin? Daughter: I thought this was how you met Mom? Future Ted: Will you relax? I'm getting to it. Like I said, it's a long story. ---- Ted: You know what? I'm done being single, I'm not good at it. Look, obviously you can't tell a woman you just met that you love her, but it sucks that you can't. I'll tell you something though, if a woman, not you, just some hypothetical woman, were to bear with me through all this, I think I'd make a damn good husband, because that's the stuff I'd be good at. Stuff like making her laugh and being a good father and walking her five hypothetical dogs. Being a good kisser... Robin: Everyone thinks they're a good kisser. Ted: Oh, I've got references. ---- Ranjit: Actually, I'm from Bangladesh. Barney: The women hot there? Ranjit: Here's a picture of my wife. Barney: (whispering) A simple no would've sufficed. ---- "I love a Scotch that's old enough to order its own Scotch." :—'Robin' ---- Robin: I think I like your olive theory. Ted: I think I like your new French horn. Robin: I think I like your nose. Ted: I think I'm in love with you. ---- Ted: I gotta do what that guy couldn't, I gotta take the leap!...Okay, not a perfect metaphor, cause for me it's fall in love and get married, and for him it's...death. Barney: Actually, that is a perfect metaphor...(to Marshall and Lily who just got engaged) By the way, did I congratulate you two? ---- "Hi, have you met Ted?" :—Barney's classic wingman line ---- Marshall: I'm full of surprises tonight. Lily: So there's more surprises?! Like what? Marshall (screaming): BOOGADABOO!!! And that's all of em!! ---- Barney: (answering the phone) Hey, so you know how I've always had a thing for half-Asians? Well, now I have a new favorite: Lebanese girls. Lebanese girls are the new half-Asians. ---- Ted: I've been there for all the big moments of you and Lily: the night you met, your first date, other first things... Marshall: Huh-uh-uh, yeah, sorry, we thought you were asleep. Ted: It's physics Marshall, if the bottom bunk moves the top bunk moves too. ---- "You suited up! This is totally going in my blog!" :—'Barney', to Ted ---- Cab Driver: Woah woah woah. Did you hit her? Lily (laughs): Hit me? Please! This guy can barely spank me in bed for fun. He's all like "Oh honey did that hurt?" and I'm all like "C'mon let me have it ya pansy!" Wow, complete stranger. Cab Driver: No, no, no, no! It's OK! Go on. So, these spankings, you in pajamas or au naturale? ---- Barney (on the phone): Hey, loser. How is not playing laser tag? Because playing laser tag is awesome! (to a kid) Oh, I killed you, Conner! Don't make me get your mom! Ted: Hey, listen, I need your help on something. Barney: Okay, meet me at the bar in 15 minutes. And suit up! ---- Ted: I could end up marrying this woman; I want our first kiss to be special. Lily: Aw, that's sweet. So you chickened out like a little bitch? ---- Future Ted: Son, a piece of advice: when you go on a first date, you really don't want to say "smurf penis." Girls don't ordinarily like that. ---- Ted: That was not the signal! Ted's Voice-Over: I asked her about it years later, and, yes, that was the signal. ---- Robin: My friend just got dumped, so tonight all men are "the Enemy". Ted: If it would make your friend feel better, you can throw a drink in my face. Robin: She would love that! ---- Ted: Marshall, remember this night. When you're the best man at our wedding and you give a speech, you're gonna tell this story. Barney: Why does he get to be the best man ? I'm your best friend! Notes and Trivia Goofs and Errors *In the scene where Ted meets Robin, Robin first has her hair covering her ears, but in the next shot, she has her hair behind her ears. *In the scene where Robin was covering the "jumper story", instead of saying Metro News 1 she says Metro 1 News. Allusions and Outside References *When Ted sees the blue french horn, he calls it a "Smurf Penis," which he tells his son is typically a bad idea on a first date. The Smurfs were a fictional group of small sky blue creatures who live somewhere in the forests of medieval Europe. They began in a Belgian comic strip in 1958, but gained the most popularity from the Hanna-Barbera television series, which ran from 1981 to 1989. *When Barney is playing laser tag he yells to a kid: "Oh, I killed you, Conner! Don't make me get your mom!". This might be a reference to the Terminator characters John and Sarah Connor Music *Otis Redding - Cigarettes and Coffee *The Pretenders - Back on the Chain Gang *The theme song for the show is 'Hey Beautiful' by , which includes writers/producers/co-creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas. Other Notes *In his audition, which included the laser tag scene, Neil Patrick Harris did the dive roll that he does in this episode. Alyson Hannigan, who was in the next room during Harris's audition, asked Harris to bump the wall when he did the dive so that she knew that he had done it. Harris misjudged the space and he hit the wall harder than he intended knocking himself out. *The champagne that the group drinks at the end of the episode was real champagne, but the actors (including Marshall Manesh, who plays Ranjit, who doesn't drink alcohol because of religious reasons) didn't know that fact until they drank it. *This is the only episode (except for and 46 Minutes '') to forgo the traditional opening (the green-tinted montage of the photographs containing all five main characters). Instead, you see a series of non-tinted photographs of Ted, Marshall, and some unnamed female friends. *The yellow bus (introduced in the 100th episode) does not appear behind Ted's kids, this episode. Awards *This episode was nominated for the 2006 Excellence in Production Design Award for Television - Multi-Camera Television Series. *This episode won the 2006 for Outstanding Art Direction for a Multi-Camera Series. Guests *Saba Homayoon - Yasmin *Marshall Manesh - Ranjit *Joe Nieves - Carl *Jack Shearer - Cab Driver * - Producer *Sarah Loew - Dumped Friend *Gary Riotto - Waiter #1 *Tony Rossi - Waiter #2 *Randy Spire - Boyfriend (uncredited) Reception The episode received generally favorable reviews, garnering a score of 69 from Metacritic.http://www.metacritic.com/tv/shows/howimetyourmother?q=how%20i%20met%20your%20mother Nielsen Media gave it a viewership rating of 5.2/8 for households with 3.3 rating for adults age 18-49.http://www.tvweek.com/ratings/092407.pdf References External Links * * * *Pilot Transcript'' at TV Transcripts DB de:Verliebt, Verlobt, Versagt es:Piloto it:Una Lunga Storia pt:Pilot uk:Pilot Category:Episodes Category:Season 1